In five chapters the book analyses: (i) the idea of higher law, (ii) liberal democracy as a legitimate model for the state, (iii) the separation of church and state or secularism as essential for the democratic state, (iv) the universality of higher law principles, (v) the history of modern political thought.
This interdisciplinary approach to jurisprudence is relevant for legal scholars, philosophers, political theorists, public intellectuals, historians, and politicians.
Paul Cliteur is Professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He is the author of The Secular Outlook (2010) and Theoterrorism v. Freedom of Speech (forthcoming).
Afshin Ellian is Professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He edited The State of Exception and Militant Democracy in a Time of Terror (2012) and Counterterrorism after the IS-Caliphate (forthcoming).